The day in...

The day in transactions:
Dave Williams was officially promoted from AAA to MLB, and Mr. Demotion, Heath Bell, was demoted to Norfolk. Williams started tonight's game in the majors, but the man I wanted to pitch tonight was lights out in Virginia.

The day in the minors:
In AAA Oliver Perez once again showed that he still has something left. The 24 year old pitched an absolute gem. After the first six innings Perez had not even allowed a hit, although he did allow a leadoff single in the seventh inning. Perez finished with seven shutout, one hit, innings. Seven innings that included 11 punch-outs, two walks, one hit batsman, and a 59-35 strike to ball ratio. Perez, Lavigne, and Heath Bell combined on a one hitter and 14 total strikeouts. Jacob Cruz had the lone run batted in in the 1-0 victory, while Anderson Hernandez scored the only run after stealing second base.

In AA Willie Collazo was also at top form. In his seven innings Collazo allowed four hits and one run en route to his seventh win of the season. Chase Lambin and Wilson Batista each hit home runs in the 7-1 win.

In High A the St. Lucie Mets were held to just three hits over seven innings. Corey Coles hit a home run for the Mets only run of the game, his first this season. Rich Rundles, a former St. Louis minor leaguer, pitched seven innings and allowed three runs, although only one was earned. Despite the low runs allowed total Rundles allowed 12 hits and walked three.

The day in the majors:
After an eventful, emotional, and inagural night at Shea Dave Williams had an impressive debut. Before leaving with an injury Williams pitched 5.2 three run innings. Two of the runs allowed scored on a three run home run given up by Roberto Hernandez. Williams ended the day with 99 pitches, and an impressive total of 68 strikes. Williams reportedly had cramps in both legs, which does not sound too serious but we should discover more in the coming days. Heilman and Wagner pitched three scoreless innings combined to close out the 7-4 win. A big part of how the Mets scored was based around prospect Lastings Milledge. As one of the few Milledge supporters, consistently, I was happy to finally see him come through. He finished 3-3 with a home run, a bases loaded rbi single, and his first hit came to break up Francis' no hitter in the fifth. Milledge reached base four times in total, since he was hit by a pitch in the third inning. Beltran had a sacrifice fly for his 100th rbi of the season, the first Met to meet that ilustrious plateau. Delgado also went 2-4 in the win. In the Mets sixth run sixth inning the Rockies played terrible defense inclduing two errors and a passed ball. What's more is that the Mets were wearing their 1986 jerseys, and if you remember, which you should, the Mets rally in the ninth inning of game six was very similar. The Mets scored the tying run on a passed ball, and the winning run on the notorious Bill Buckner error. The situation and game impact is, quite obviously, different, but it is very weird how these situations happened on the night the 1986 team was honored, and when the Mets wore those exact jerseys.